1. VERBS 11: The Statives and
Dialects
Materials by Liz Siler

2. The Statives
• There is another class of verbs called
statives.
• Statives are rarely used in the
progressive (or perfect progressive)
aspect.
• Statives are often verbs that express
cognition, desire, and sense.

3. Examples: Statives
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Be: Now I am a little tired. (not: I am being a little tired).
Believe: I believe God exists. (not: I am believing God exists).
Belong: It belongs to me. (not: It is belonging to me).
Exist: God exists. (not: God is existing).
Forget: I forget her name. (not: I am forgetting her name).
Hate: I hate this show. (not: I am hating this show).
Have (meaning to possess): She has a beautiful family. (not: She is
having a beautiful family).
Smell: Now I smell it. (not: Now I am smelling it.)

4. Switch Hitters
• Some verbs can have a stative and a
non-stative use, depending on the
meaning.

5. Examples
• I have a dog. (Have shows possession
– stative; not: I am having a dog.)
• I am having a good time today. (Have
shows experience -- not stative; not: I
have a good time today.)

6. Statives in ESL
• Statives are hard to learn -- and so
learners’ dictionaries often mark the
entries with [not usually in the
progressive] if the verb is a stative.
Check out: http://www.ldoce.com

7. Dialects and Aspect
• Some dialects of English use aspects
differently than North American
Standard does.
• In Indian English (a major dialect
spoken by at least 100 million people),
verbs that people in North America
make statives are regularly used in the
progressive.

8. Sample
• (From a recent call to my bank)
Phone rep: Are you understanding my
explanation?
Me: Not really.
Phone rep: I am not having a better
explanation. I will get my manager. He
may be knowing another way.